Digital Learners

Who Owns Star Wars Nostalgia?

First: A word about Power Pointless! We at the University of Illinois Springfield Center for Online Learning, Research and Service present often at academic conferences. We encourage attendees to freely share presentation materials online using web-native tools that encourage collaboration and updating. You may follow the session using your personal mobile device to dig deeper into the topics we discuss and share with others following the conference. Below is a QR Code and a short URL for the presentation.

http://go.uis.edu/GenZ

Why do we use Generational Names?

Who is Generation Z

- Born between 1996 - 2010
- Entered college between 2013-14 and today
- Beloit College's Annual List of Incoming Freshmen (Class of 2020)Characteristics

Gen Z from a father and son's perspective

- GenZ Guru's Video

"Phigital" Students

Gen Z: The Phigital Student

How Can We Eliminate Technology Bias and Generation Stereotyping?

According to Campus Technology, 23% of students believe their faculty are digitally literate, 14% of faculty believe their students are digitally literate

Generational Differences with Tech Initiatives

"Today, the population of learners who are age 25 or older is growing faster than the traditional college-age group, a surge projected to continue."

Undergraduate Gen Z students & information technology

(https://www.visioncritical.com/generation-z-infographics/)

Educase ECAR Undergraduate Technology Research

2016 Educause Center for Analysis & Research study of student and faculty information technology research

Key Findings of 2016 Study

The Importance of Technology to Students (p.5-7)

- Students have strong positive orientations toward technology and own a lot of digital devices. Student scores on our measures of technology disposition, attitude, and usage were the highest since we began collecting these data in 2014. Almost all students own a laptop or a smartphone; virtually no students own only a tablet.
- Student ownership of digital devices continues to grow despite approaching market saturation for laptops and smartphones. From 2015 to 2016, smartphone ownership increased from 92% to 96% and laptop ownership rose from 91% to 93%. Tablet ownership continues to level o , but wearable technology ownership more than doubled in the past year.
- Device ownership is greater among students than the general public. Over half of students own a laptop, a tablet, and a smartphone, compared with only a third of the American public. Only 1% of students do not own any devices, while 16% of U.S. adults report having no digital devices.

Students use their devices extensively and view them as important to their academic success. Laptops continue to be the academic workhorse for students. Academic usage of smartphones by students increased by 9 percentage points since 2015, but tablet usage continues to decline.

The Technology Experiences of Students

- A majority of students reported favorable experiences with campus wireless networks. Two-thirds or more rated the reliability of access to Wi-Fi in campus libraries and classroom/instructional spaces—as well as the ease of logging in to Wi-Fi networks—as good to excellent. Network performance and the reliability of access to Wi-Fi in student housing and dormitories have the greatest opportunity for improved connectivity experiences.

Students believe that a majority of their instructors have technology skills adequate for course instruction, use technology in basic waysto connect to learning materials, and encourage the use of online collaborative tools. About half of students said a majority of their instructors are using technology for more complicated student outcomes such as stimulating critical and creative thinking or maintaining student attention.
Students’ technology experiences are a function of their encounters with campus infrastructure and their beliefs and attitudes about technology’s use. In addition to infrastructural considerations (i.e., reliability of Wi-Fi, network performance), students’ technology experiences are shaped by their perceptions of the adequacy of their instructors’ technology skills, their attitudes toward technology, and their belief that technology used in class will bene t them in their chosen careers.

The Technology Preferences of Students

Students’ choices for the type of learning environment in which they claim to learn the most have remained remarkably stable over the past several years. An absolute majority of students said they prefer courses that have some blended aspect to their design. Only 10% of students prefer entirely face-to-face courses, and 7% prefer fully online.
Students’ current preferences for different types of learning environments tend to be shaped, in part, by the types of courses they have taken. Those who have taken courses with more online components prefer courses with more online components; those who have taken courses with more face-to-face components prefer that modality in which to learn.
Students see many benefits of technology but are wary of the threats to their privacy. Students view technology 1) as something that enables them to engage content in less traditional ways, 2) as a set of skills or literacies they are expected to possess in order to succeed, 3) as something that excites or empowers them to learn, and 4) ambivalently as a potential threat to their privacy.

The Effects of Technology on Students

Female and 1st-generation students are significantly more likely to have their levels of engagement, enrichment, and efficacy raised by technology. Both groups view technology as a tool by which they might be able to improve their respective positions and overcome structural or institutional disadvantages.
Students who perceive technology to increase their engagement with other students and who are encouraged to use devices during class to deepen learning are significantly more likely to be distracted. However, we do not think this means that instructors need to avoid technology-based activities that encourage student-student interaction. Research on the importance of different modalities of engagement in digital environments suggests that the student-student interactions that are a source of distraction are also the sources of some of the most important forms of engagement for learning.
Students who were prepared to use basic software applications when they started college and who reported being adequately prepared to use the technologies employed in their classrooms are significantly less likely to be distracted. Colleges and universities may be able to reduce the impact of digital distractions by providing better and/or more technology training on basic so ware applications; on specialized applications used on campus and/ or in students’ declared major(s); and on technology ethics, etiquette, and security.

ECAR Recommends

See the 2016 Report for a full list of actionable results.

IT organizations should consider (re)investing in Wi-Fi infrastructure.
IT organizations should make their regular training highly visible and identify any gaps.
Faculty need to overcome their reservations about harnessing student technologies, especially mobile devices, for academic work in the classroom.
Find ways to provide technologically enhanced opportunities for female, minority, and first-generation college students to enrich their learning experiences.
The fact that students can be and are distracted by some digital technology in the classroom does not mean that a ban on devices is the solution. Students need clear boundaries regarding the appropriate uses of technology in the classroom.
IT organizations should offer more and/or better technology training for students during new student orientation.

Badging & Credentialing - UPCEA Research Study

Millennials Prefer Badges

Among the study’s key findings

Alternative credentials are offered by 94% of institutions.
One in five institutions offers badges.
Badges are most commonly offered in the business industry.
71% of institutions has consistent engagement with the business community for internships, practicums, and job placement.
64% of respondents either strongly or somewhat agreed that their institution sees alternative credentialing as an important strategy for its future.
Millennial Demand for Badging Challenges Industry
Gen Z and Higher Ed

Unlike Millennials, who pursue personal fulfillment more widely than financial goals or job titles, Gen Z values college most as a means to secure a good job. (Malat, 2016)

(Begin :40 - End at 2:02)

21st Century Skills…

How Shall We Teach

Become a Learning Guide
Embrace Technology
Encourage Educational Freedom
Teach Risk-Taking
Understand Speed of Access Matters

What skills do students need to learn as we teach discipline specific content?

Technical skills
Conceptual skills
Interpersonal skills
Entrepreneurial and Innovation skills

Producing a Nation of Problem Solvers

...education needs to become a dynamic activity, providing a combination of four ingredients:

- - - - Knowledge, starting with the basic skills of literacy and numeracy, moving onto knowledge of core content and then to higher order concepts and thinking skills, to challenge, question, adapt and apply knowledge in new ways.
        Personal strengths and character development, including helping students find a sense of purpose and ambition, and building their resilience and persistence (knowing how to stick with it and overcome setbacks and obstacles).
        Social experiences so they deepen their relationships with others, learn and think through dialogue and collaboration, and take action together to make and do things for and with other people.
        Activities that give students a strong sense of agency, so that they learn how to turn knowledge and ideas into action to see that they can make a difference to the world so they can serve and contribute. (Ledbetter, 2016)

The ability to prepare for multiple career fields at one time and "slash" careers through development of transferable skills
- I am a teacher/freelance writer
- I am a business associate/waiter
- I am an administrative assistant/photographer
- I am a middle manager/adjunct faculty member

Cultivating Culture for Successful Learning Environments with Multiple Generations

Promote understanding, acceptance, and respect
- Each student is valued for individual contribution
- Each student is respected for their strengths
Communication is open.
Learning environment promotes project-based assignments that utilize the strengths of each member.
- Specific individualized guidance is provided.
- Function-based work projects are reduced or eliminated.
Technology is used to create interest and enhance content.